AL: Bus drivers protest poor working conditions in Mobile: ‘The worst we’ve ever seen’

A group of 28 drivers for the Wave Transit System rallied on Tuesday in Mobile, voicing support for their union president’s concerns about retaliatory treatment and unsafe working conditions.

The concerns, they said, have manifested since the expiration of a three-year contract between Local 770 of the Amalgamated Transit Union and the management company that administers Mobile’s public transportation system. The two sides have been in mediation since the contract expired last October.

These concerns, they said, stemmed from a variety of issues, including leaky buses, a lack of air conditioning and heat on the buses, passengers threatening drivers, and a culture of fear over professional retaliation by management.

“This is the worst we’ve ever seen it with the management company,” said Antonie Maiben, president and business agent for the Local 770. Wave Transit is the long-time operator of the city’s public transportation system.

Four bus routes were suspended on Tuesday morning, affecting Wave Transit users in downtown and midtown Mobile, Prichard, and the Spring Hill area.

The disruption irked council members, some of whom said that the lack of buses was harmful to their constituents.

The council provides approximately $10 million each year for Wave Transit to operate. The system has been part of the city’s operations since the mid-1990s.

However, city officials said they do not have the responsibility for ordering the bus drivers back to work, though the city funds the bus system, such as purchasing buses that travel the routes daily.

“The city is not the employer of Wave employees,” said City Attorney Ricardo Woods. “Our primary goal is to get the citizens back on the buses and keep those services moving forward for our city.”

Preston Jackson, general manager of the transit system, told council members that the union’s concerns were “not all true,” but he offered no further details. Jackson declined to speak to the media after the council meeting.

Jackson told council members that the company had policies and procedures in place to address much of the concerns.

Councilman Ben Reynolds suggested the labor-management issues not be litigated during a council meeting but instead addressed at a negotiation table. Maiben said after the meeting that he had reached out to Jackson to have a sit-down meeting for the two sides to hash out their dispute.

“This is a substantial amount of money to our taxpayers,” Reynolds said about the city’s annual appropriation to Wave Transit. “I hope you can resolve this.”

Said Councilman William Carroll, “We have a huge investment (to Wave Transit) for you guys to be bickering over little things. We have people to serve.”

City officials stated that they only became aware of the bus driver walkout earlier that morning and had not received any prior notification.

Richard Jackson, senior organization with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), said the walk out was not a so-called “Blue flu,” which is a type of strike often undertaken by police officers in which large numbers simultaneously use sick leave.

“This was not union led,” Jackson said. “What you’ve seen is the reaction of drivers and how they are treated reaching a point where they could not take it any further. We understand their plight.”

Jackson said the national union supports the Local 770 in its quest for collective bargaining.

“I don’t want it misunderstood that we set this up as some publicity stunt,” Jackson said. “This was the reaction of the drivers. We are part of the community. Why would we want to hurt the community? That’s not what it is.”

Maiben said he was hopeful to have a meeting soon with Wave’s management.

“We are going to make sure they understand that we move this city,” he said.

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